3. As the subject was felt to be of considerable importance, steps 



by an agricultural chemist, the manufactured article has been submitted 

 to experts for valuation and report, and the methods of cultivating and 

 manufacturing arrowroot pursued at St. Vincent have been carefully 

 compared with the methods pursued in other countries. 



4. The general results of the inquiry will be given in detail later. It 

 is well known that the best arrowroot at present in the market is 

 Bermuda arrowroot. This obtains prices more than double, or even 

 treble those obtained for St. Vincent arrowroot, Bermuda arrowroot 

 may therefore be taken as the standard of what a good arrowroot should 

 be, and the circumstances of its cultivation and manufacture are well 

 deserving of consideration. 



5. There is no reason to suppose that the arrowroot plants cultivated 

 at Bermuda and St. Vincent differ in any essential respects from one 

 another- Plants have been obtained direct from Bermuda and cultivated 

 in the Bahamas and other islands in the West Tndies, and the arrowroot 

 prepared from them according to West Indian methods has been classed 



6- As regards soil, we appear to have no authentic analysis of Bermuda 

 soils- It may, however, be assumed that they have been formed l.v the 

 disintegration of coral rock, and that they are tolerably rich in lime, 

 phosphoric acid, and other important constituents «.f plant life. In a 

 recent account of the arrowroot industry in Iiermuda (a copv of which 

 is enclosed marked A. >. ii is stated that " the ground is first we'll manured 

 and ploughed deep." The advantage derived from such treatment is 



• at St. Vincent and Bermuda ; 

 •eriority of Bermud: 



'and expensive it was discontinued. The method of pulping 

 ' generally adopted is to i'vcd the clean unskinned roots against a fin 

 • grater, very similar to a potato grater." 



9- In other respects, the process of manufacture pursued a 

 fincent appears to be carried on without that scrupulous can 



